Winter is the first to awaken since all I have to do is repair the damage dealt to his body and restart his brain. "Where am I?" He asks, swiveling his mechanical head around the room.
"It has been two days since we battled Hermes. I took advantage of the chaos caused by the temple fire and rented us a room at an inn." Slowly, my other companions begin to awaken. Recovery time is no hinderance since I can use magic to heal them. "Our battle with Hermes could have killed you all. It’s clear even with the extreme caution I took, I gravely underestimated the Greek pantheon. I want you all to return to the tower. I cannot risk having any of you die."
"What does it matter?" Asks Ican. "Even if we die, you have new bodies for us in the curative vats that we’ll revive in."
"Yes, but it would be a waste of resources if you did die. Additionally, the Greek gods are likely strong and smart enough to figure that out and devise a countermeasure. For now, I command you all return." Begrudgingly, they walk through the flux rift I open for them. I telepathically contact my praetors and instruct they also return through the rift we arrived at. They should be able to do it using a flux battery I gave Victor.
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Now alone in this dimension, I consider my next target. Someone that is unaffiliated with Hermes would be ideal, since now they’re expecting me. Apollo’s control over the sun could prove troublesome. Perhaps Artemis? I scoff at the thought. Druids are lazy. Rather than cultivate their own power or study magic, they would rather be hippies and hug trees. Still, I cannot underestimate her.
I formulate a plan to lure her to me and slay her. Using the same theories I developed while creating the Deity Hammer, I tinker for about seven hours using materials I find around the city and create a device I call the Impetus Cannon. It is about the size of a musket. By charging it over the course of an hour with my soul’s energies, it will be able to replicate a focused blast roughly three times as powerful as the one I released on Hermes. The device will feed on my soul’s ambient energies as long as it is near me.
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I begin my search for Artemis by doing a little bit of research. I recall from a Greek Literature class I took that the Ceryneian Hind was a sacred animal to Artemis. Killing it ought to draw her out. I ask the citizens of Crete about it. Nobody can tell me its location. However, after searching for a few hours, I come across a hardened old hunter who tells me he once hunted it a few hours North of here, and that to his knowledge, it was still there. I thank him for his help and set out to the North.
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Far before I even reach the forest, I can sense an Essentia signature through my goggles of revealing that is extremely abnormal. That must be where the animal is. I cautiously run towards the signature. Looking from behind a tree, I see before me a gorgeous deer glowing a golden tone. This creature is composed almost entirely of Praecantatio (Magic). Incredible… I activate the Lux (Light) passthrough on my fortress armor and walk up to it. It fails to even notice me as it eats grass. Sorry about this. I draw my primal cutter and slice its throat open. It whimpers horribly and falls limp in a bloody mess. I feel a bit bad now. Sad to waste such a rarity, I pull a new spell focus I’ve been working on out of my pouch and cast it on the deer. Magic light flows from my gauntlet into the deer, binding its soul to its corpse temporarily, extending the duration in which I can revive it.
I sit by the deer’s corpse for a little while before I hear something in the bushes around me. I sense no souls or abnormal Essentia readings nearby. Could it be? Just then, an arrow whizzes towards my head. I catch it midair and stand up to examine it. The material is made of something I’ve never seen. It must be Artemis. I look around, but I see nothing. Night is falling.
Suddenly, another arrows hits me from behind. My runic shielding easily deflects it. I turn in that direction and cast a Doombolt. I hear a female voice grunt in pain and stagger out from behind a tree. "Artemis, I presume?" She winced her face in pain and anger and begins casting some sort of spell.
"You imprudent mortal! I will curse you with the form of a rat!" She screams. Vis coalesces in her hands and some sort of blue tendrils extend from them. They stop short of my flux aura, however. She tilts her head in confusion. I take the opportunity to draw my Impetus Cannon from my back. It quickly boots up with a whirring sound and blasts a massive beam of my soul’s energy through Artemis. Her body falls limp as I collect her noble soul in a warded jar.
"If you’re all going to be this easy to kill, it was a stupid mistake on my part to take this much precaution."